LIFE-HISTORY OF GEOMETRA PAPILIONARIA. Ill 



very pretty reticulated appearance. After hybernation they devour 

 both cuticle and veins. The larva of the female is about a quarter 

 of an inch in lengtb, of a dull orange colour, with its anal and 

 middle segments reddish brown ; that of the male is paler, with 

 less orange, and frequently wholly of a dingy greyish hue. In 

 autumn, when the trees begin to assume those well-known sombre 

 tints so characteristic of an English landscape, they, contrary to 

 some authors, cease to feed, and settle for their long winter sleep 

 on the branches of various trees ; and in colour, shape, and 

 general appearance strongly resemble when hybernating on birch, 

 and probably on other trees, rudimental branchlets, for which, at 

 first sight, they may be easily mistaken. This I'esemblance is, 

 however, only fully acquired when the shelter of the foliage is 

 gone, and evidently forms their chief protection against the 

 ravages of insectivorous birds. During hybernation they become 

 much reduced in size, and then present a very slirivelled appear- 

 ance, particularly when seen by the aid of a lens, which also 

 discloses a reddish tinge, not otherwise observable. The cater- 

 pillars may be obtained in September by beating birch (Betula 

 alba), hazel {Corylas aveUana), and, I am informed, alder [Alnus 

 glutinosa), &c. ; but the moth seems to prefer depositing her ova 

 on dwarf and stunted birches, especially those lopped or broken, 

 situated in sheltered positions. Such trees are less affected by 

 tempest, and the parent, in selecting them as nurseries for her 

 offspring, would appear to be impelled by exceptional instinctive 

 powers, in support of which I may state that I have rarely ever 

 beaten the larva from tall birches, and then only from the lower 

 branches. The larva of this insect, in common with other 

 hybernating species, such as Lasiocampa, quercifolia, Metrocampa 

 margaritaria, Boarmia repandata, B. rhomboidaria, B. roboraria, 

 Hylophila bicolorana, with which I have had experience, exhibit 

 the same restlessness on warm days in early spring, and in the 

 absence of leaves feed on buds and tender twigs. 



About the middle of April a perceptible change takes place in 

 the hybernating hues, wliich gradually by a series of moults, 

 during which the autumnal tints more vividly reappeai", inter- 

 mingled with yellowish green, give place to that lovely and 

 delicate shade of green acquired by the adult larva, — a change 

 singularly coincident with tljat which the foliage undergoes from 

 the bursting of the bud to the full-expanded leaf; and here at 

 this, the third and most interesting period of its larval state, 

 resemblance in colour, no doubt enables it frequently to elude 

 the vigilance of its enemies. 



The common form of the larva is emerald-green, with a broad 

 and not very regular reddish brown dorsal stripe, and with the 

 segments humped, as follows: — Second and fourth segments 

 minutely humped ; third and twelfth uni-humped ; third hood- 



